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Ubiety
"Ubiety is an omnipresent and omnipotent energy generated by all living things, binding them spiritually and physically." Formally known as Ubiety but often called Spirit or Essence, Ubiety is recognized as an energy created, maintained, and grown from the life-force of all living things - from animals, peoples, and plants. Though discovered nearly four thousand years ago, it is not fully understood by those who study or wield it. It retains its elusive nature due to its habit of continuous change, shaping itself and the world around it over time. These changes can either happen slowly or in the blink of an eye. Either way, they can change current understanding of Ubiety entirely. As the major pseudo-religion of the world, Ubiety has many recognized - and not recognized - pieces. Upon initial discovery, there was but one piece of Ubiety known as the Whole, which was followed greatly in its early history. However, another sinister side was discovered, which came to be known as the Shroud, and those who followed it, the Shrouded. Through time, and because separation was needed, another path of followers called themselves the Illuminated and follow the Illuminated path, for they oppose all that the Shrouded stand for:: enmity, dread, avariciousness, ire, antagonism, envy, and malice. To counter that, the Illuminated stand for empathy, altruism, self-understanding, and mending. Despite millions of followers, there remains numerous amounts of clear splits amongst believers of Ubiety. For some, they believe the most power is held within the Shroud. The most notable of these followers of the Shroud are known as the Val'evik. Though it has been argued that the Shroud is simply more tempting due to its very nature of manipulation. Others see Ubiety as a being capable of complex thought, worshipping it as if it was a deity. Despite Ubiety flowing through every breathing being, it can only be utilized those known as the Conscious. A person’s level of Consciousness is measured by how large and powerful their Aura is. Conscious peoples who have trained and developed their abilities are later referred to as the Awoken. Branches of Ubiety Four branches of Ubiety are recognized currently, and they are as follows: * Breathing Ubiety * Whole Ubiety * Undying Ubiety * True Ubiety Breathing Ubiety Breathing Ubiety is the most followed facet of Ubiety by not only commoners but also by the Congregation, an organization that follows the Illuminated path. It is the belief by people that Ubiety is generated by most - if not all - living things, thusly binding all of them together. The Val'jeta see Breathing Ubiety as relying upon instinct through the detection of their surroundings and being connected to the living beings they are among. While followers of this belief often live in the moment, they keep the future in mind as well. It is from Breathing Ubiety that the Shrouded were adapted from, thusly causing the Illuminated to be mindful of their actions and moral consequences, lest they find themselves in the Shroud. Whole Ubiety Whole Ubiety is the understanding that there is no side to Ubiety, that it is one, that it is the soul of the world, that it cannot be divided. It is the belief that every path of Ubiety is merely the consequence of mortal motivation, and attitude, and morals. That without mortals, Ubiety would have never been divided. However, there are those who believe in Whole Ubiety whilst belonging to either the Shrouded or the Illuminated paths. It goes to show that even those believing of no side find themselves at the mercy of their mortal hearts and minds. Those Awoken who believe in Whole Ubiety while belonging to either path often keep the future very much in focus, sometimes more so than the present. They make powerful seers, able to reach out far and wide with the tendrils of their mind to harvest information. Undying Ubiety Undying Ubiety is the least understood facet of all due to its seemingly unreachable nature in life. Research shows Undying Ubiety is a channel of Ubiety outside the mortal spectrum, unable to be reached by most Awoken. However, it is a channel imperative to Ubiety all the same. It is through this channel that Echos and Imprints can be witnessed and felt by the mortal realm, hence its name. It is through this channel that powerful Awoken can return to the realm of the living as phantoms of themselves, taking the distorted form of their once living selves. It is believed that without Undying Ubiety, Ubiety itself would cease to exist. True Ubiety True Ubiety is the form of Ubiety that is palpable, able to be manipulated and held by Conscious people. It is because of its wieldable nature that is it called ‘True’, it is something that evidence can be readily brought up to supports its existence. Through True Ubiety, Conscious people can handle their surroundings by employing Ubiety as the causer of impetus. Phenomenons of Ubiety True Ubiety is the facet of Ubiety that can be felt and seen in the physical world. It is from True Ubiety that Phenomenons are produced, or are believed to be produced. The phenomenons are mental-based projections of a Conscious mortal’s Aura, or their strength of connection with Ubiety. This connection can only be tapped and wielded due to the sharpness of the Conscious mortal’s willpower, and willpower can only be sharpened through training and guidance. These phenomenons reveal themselves in the forms of telepathy, telekinesis, the enhancement of the Conscious mortal’s physical being, or the allowance of a Conscious mortal’s metaphysical prowess. They can allow Conscious mortals to affect and practice control over momentum and fundamental forces such as kinetics, friction, pressure, and gravity. This allows practitioners of True Ubiety to defy gravity and bend the rules of physics. These powers also allow users to turn up undamaged by high impacts, only to be rendered stunned, or land safely on their feet in some cases. The durability of the Conscious is enhanced by their connection to Ubiety innately, allowing for these feats. Other feats include allowing practitioners to leap great and unreal distances or even run upside down on solid surfaces with ease. The connection also allows them to break into mind-blurring speeds for brief periods of time depending on how deep and refined their connection to Ubiety is. A greater user of Ubiety can also dominate the minds of the weak-willed or even other Ubiety-users should their connection exceed the strength of their target’s. True Ubiety can also be used to snatch consciousness from an individual, rendering them unconscious. Foresight is also a byproduct of a nurtured connection with Ubiety, allowing users to peer through the veil of uncertainty to see what changes in the world that Ubiety has planned. Examples of this can be seen in duels, where the blows may be done in microseconds but a user’s connection allows them to predict the next move of their enemy. Deep connections with Ubiety established via meditation can allow users to peer even farther into the future, from moments to years at a time. Going on, users of Ubiety could force True Ubiety into the real world as projections of strength. Examples of this can be seen practiced by the Val’jeta and the Evik; the Jeta can erect variably opaque barriers to protect from the destructive projectiles produced by the Shroud Powers of the Evik. These destructive projectiles could appear as spontaneous flame or fireballs, as cutting wind from suddenly summoned gales, or lightning erupting from either a cloudless sky or the Evik’s very hand at the highest levels of mastery. True Ubiety and Undying Ubiety are both used to reiterated a dead Conscious’ being in the form of a phantom, a form of immortality that only the most adept users of Ubiety could attain after death. Total masters of Ubiety can project their consciousness into the minds of others, but there are only a few recorded cases in history that this happened, and all attempts were done by followers of the Shroud. Other such destructive powers of the Shroud also allow for adepts to drain the lifeforce of their opponents or of other living things. The most powerful Val'evik, Yu’dow, was able to drain the life from entire cities during the height of his power. Users who primarily depended on the Illuminated path for their abilities found themselves able to live much longer lives without the aid of Shroud path. On the opposite side, those who depended on the Shroud for their power were forced to further corrupt themselves in order to live as long as the most adept Illuminated. In some cases they lived longer than the Illuminated. However, longer life came at the price of being slowly claimed by the Shroud, meaning a person’s very lifeforce was being destroyed by what they believed in. Though they may live for quite a long time, the longer they live, the more unrecognizable they become until they become a Shadow. Succumbing The risks of tapping the connection between a Conscious mortal and Ubiety and then channeling that into the world vary massively. If a user goes above their means of channeling Ubiety they can suffer physical repercussions to small or great extents, even death. When a person exceeds their abilities, Ubiety begins to ‘leak’ into their body, forcibly dissolving it and seeking to return them to the aether. The most minor cases bare the symptoms such as headaches, stomach pains, muscle spasms and cramps, nausea, numbness, fever, chills, body aches, and more. Moderate cases show the same symptoms as the minor cases to enhanced degrees; nausea turns to vomiting, headaches turn to migraines, spasms and cramps seem to not subside, and fevers soar dangerously high but do not kill, only debilitating depending on how trained a user is. In the most severe cases death occurs if the channeling of Ubiety continues unchecked. This process is called Succumbing to the Sickness, or Succumbing for short. However, if a user continues to only reach the minor consequences of Succumbing, the less debilitating the symptoms, the more the numbness takes over. Euphoria begins to be felt by reaching the first stages of Succumbing and addictions begins to take ahold of the user. This feeling, though, is the Whole Ubiety turning corrupt, leading a user into the Shroud. Foci Though a Conscious mortal's body acts as the root of their connection with Ubiety, centuries ago a means of heightening a user’s connection to Ubiety was discovered. These means were discovered in the form of crystals harmonized with Ubiety at varying degrees of strength. The crystals have been named Foci for the way they help apprentices focus on the Ubiety that they channel. Though all can use nearly any Foci for themselves, they are unique to people in various ways. Through the ritual of the Calling, an apprentice reaches out into the depth of Ubiety in specialized crystal caverns in search of a crystal that calls to them louder than all others. It is from then that the Foci and the apprentice are one and the same. Foci are imbued into the user’s weapon of choice, be that the hilt of a sword, the butt of a spear, the neck of a bow, the center of a shield, or the handle of a whip. Imbued weapons are called Mak’r. Foci were chosen to be imbued into a user’s weapon because the weapon was what was held most sacred during the most tumultuous time between Val’jeta and Val’evik. Foci serve as another barrier of protection between a wielder and the dissolving effects of Whole Ubiety. Not only do they bolster the Aura of a Conscious, they also enhance the capacity in which a Conscious can channel Ubiety, though the Conscious mortal’s training will always be a hard limit to what they can execute. The Foci is simply a soft extension. Dissonance Dissonance is a disturbance in the general flow of Ubiety. Because Ubiety is generated by and flows through all living things, and in some non-living things as seen with the Foci, a great destruction of either creates an effect which ripples outwards. This ripple is detectable by those with connections to Ubiety. Depending on the nature of the user, the ripple may bring them great heartache depending on the cause or empower them. Those privy to the Shroud may find themselves empowered by mass death and destruction, as Corrupt Ubiety thrives on such destruction. Even in the cases in which a powerful Shrouded is felled, a lesser Shrouded will find their strength slightly enhanced temporarily by the release of Corrupt Ubiety into the aether. (A Shrouded’s strength is permanently increased if they are cause of another Shrouded’s death personally with their Mak’r.) On the opposite end, an Illuminated’s strength is protected by the dispersion of Corrupt Ubiety due to their alignment, but are adversely affected mentally when mass death is sensed, also because of their alignment.